Virat Kohli makes it to Wisden’s Top 5 cricketers of the decade

Team India captain Virat Kohli is among the cricketers included in Wisden’s list of top five cricketers of the decade.

Team India captain Virat Kohli is among the cricketers included in Wisden’s list of top five cricketers of the decade. Apart from Kohli, Steve Smith, Dale Steyn, AB de Villiers and Ellyse Perry make up the top five list.

In the decade (2010-2019), Kohli has 20,960 runs to his name in 386 games at an average of 57.58 with 69 hundreds and 98 fifties. Hashim Amla is next on the list with 15,185. While de Villiers has a total of 12,820 runs, de Villiers scored 11,536. In 2019 alone, the Indian captain has amassed a combined total of 2,370 runs at an average of 64.05. It was the fourth straight year when he scored more than 2,000 runs in a calendar year.

“Kohli has amassed 5,775 more international runs than anyone else, 22 more international hundreds than anyone else,” the ICC posted on its official Twitter handle. In praise of Kohli, Wisden wrote about the 31-year-old, “His genius has been to rise, time and again, to the challenge. Between the end of the England tour in 2014 and the second Test against Bangladesh at Kolkata in November, Kohli averaged 63, with 21 hundreds and 13 fifties.”

“It left him with a unique set of statistics - the only batsman to average at least 50 in all three international formats. Even Steve Smith was moved to remark recently that there is no one quite like him. In many ways, there isn’t. Since the retirement of Sachin Tendulkar and the gradual waning of MS Dhoni, no cricketer in the world has operated under such daily pressure as Kohli,” Wisden further added.

Earlier, Kohli was also named captain of the Wisden Test team of the decade. Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin is the only other Indian in the team. While Kohli has amassed 7,202 runs from 84 games, averaging 54.97 with 27 hundreds and 22 half-centuries. Ashwin, on the other hand, has 362 wickets from 70 Tests at an average of 25.4, with 27 five-fors.

Meanwhile, in the Wisden ODI team of the decade, Kohli, opener Rohit Sharma and former India skipper MS Dhoni find a place. Kohli has 11,609 runs from 242 matches at a stunning average of 59.84 with 43 hundreds and 55 half-centuries.

Rohit has 8,944 runs from 221 ODIs at an average of 49.14 with 28 centuries and 43 half-centuries. Dhoni, on the other hand, has amassed 10,773 runs from 350 ODIs with 10 hundreds and 73 half-centuries.